DRW50

Yes - Graham had played Caleb before (in 1990 I think) so I guess he was on standby. I don't think he was a good recast, but I do appreciate how the producers of that era tried to take more care about finding an actor and using them when the times came - I think they also stuck to one temp actor for Hal and for Lyla in those years. I remember when Jennifer would return as Meg, she was usually not that friendly to Julie - it's a credit to the ladies they were able to make it believable. (did she say she met Jennifer auditioning for Facts of Life, or was that Renee?)

I felt like that ended a bit early, although there probably wasn't much left to say. I was mostly glad to finally find out one of the reasons Julie appeared so infrequently in '91 (I didn't know Susan had been written out and was also pregnant in real life). Susan also said that the reason why she and many others were let go was so that P&G would not have to keep paying royalties to Doug Marland's estate for their characters. I wasn't sure if they would get into Michael David Morrison's death, but they did, and she talked about how she'd spoken with him the day before he died. She felt he had a double life and essentially committed suicide. Until now Alan didn't know Louden had died, I don't think (I guess it didn't get a ton of attention as he'd been out of soaps for a decade by that point). I was wondering if she'd have any more to say about him but they seemed to move on quickly...

If a picture paints a thousand words...

Thanks for the reminder. I'm glad I'll be on at the right time for this, even if it will be a miracle to get good talk about the show.

I had forgotten Nik was still on the show to be honest...I guess it shows you how involved I am.

I think that would have worked ten years ago, but I'm not sure who is left to connect to - Laura in the rare times she's there...or pointless Lulu? I guess there's Liz and Jake. I feel like the time of the Spencers has passed.

I can't stand Valentini either, but I wonder how much of this is down to very high-priced actors who will only stay a year or two compared to high-priced (but maybe not quite as much) actors who are willing to stay long-term.

I liked Greg Vaughan, in spite of the show's best efforts, but I can't think of much value Lucky brought in the '00s or in JJ's second run. Laura became irrelevant due to whatever issues the producers, Luza, ABC, and Genie had, and Tony Geary's loathing of the L&L dynamics overrode any relationship Luke and Lucky had had. I wish they had just had JJ return (if he was willing) for a brief arc in 2000 and then had Lucky move away.

Here is Wolf Blitzer, one of the most worthless Beltway hacks, lying about gas prices in DC to try to further pile on to the narrative. The media hates us and hates this country.

I was reading about Trump's ranting over Kavanaugh, which I don't really care about at this point as it won't lead to him being removed from the bench. However, this led to some other revelations, including that a man who was allegedly verbally and physically accosted by Kavanaugh during the Starr Report era reported this to Jeff Flake during the confirmation hearings - who still went on to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Today, Biden announced Flake as his pick to be ambassador to Turkey. I wish these patronage jobs could be done away with. I don't care if he endorsed Biden (I don't really know if I believe he had an affect on the Arizona results anyway). The decisions Flake made will ruin the lives of generations of Americans.

Some of them, yes. And those people can never be trusted. I just think there are other people who can be reached and are slowly losing any hope in where we are heading. They are being told that no one cares about them, or even about democracy.

Is this Lenore Kasdorf in the Granny Goose ad at around 5 minutes?

I think it's gotten to a point where some people just want to see an attempt at anything beyond a speech. I don't agree with those who blame all Democrats in the Senate, or all "liberals" as a pejorative, but the continued can-kicking and can-kicking, and essentially just asking people to try harder to vote, is incredibly demoralizing. Manchin and Sinema and the others in the Senate who let them do the dirty work are kicking that can all down the road to hell, and dragging us along with them. Even with the infrastructure bill, which was supposed to be easier, Manchin continues to do nothing but go to the press to complain about "no more free money." They want us to be so proud of them for doing nothing. It's maddening.

They're getting a lot of hate from the pundits and press (for posing for selfies, not wearing masks on the plane, having Miller Lite, being seen as hypocrites, etc.) but I guess they know that this is their last chance and some symbolic moment is better than nothing. The protests in Cuba have been making a lot of news the last few days. I find the cheerleading from the right wing to be completely hollow and phony, but I'm also not entirely sure how much I believe those who claim the whole thing is just a CIA-backed coup attempt. The people who are desperate to remind us of what a paradise Cuba is rarely seem to have a word to say about the country unless it's to remind us how terrible America is. This isn't the first time reports have come out about how many problems Cuba has (and not just because of a blockade). I guess it's going to end up going nowhere, like with Venezuela, a situation which only escalated as much as it did because of Trump and the morons around him thought this was their chance to be freedom fighters.

I see that yet another desperate man (some guy at Vox) is giving hatemonger Liz B a podcast to feel sorry for herself. She and her scumbag husband just continue to weave poison everywhere they go. Vox truly has hit the toilet bowl.

The tweet is gone now, but Alex Thompson, who spent yesterday reminding everyone that if you're an American who likes soccer you're out of touch, spent today trying to get people mad (I guess???) because the White House listed Eric Adams' occupation (Brooklyn Borough President) instead of (I guess???) mayor-in-waiting, or whatever.

Katie Porter (whom I find overrated and performative but who also did not deserve any of this) had her rally attacked by far right groups, groups who attacked elderly people to the point where Porter had to physically shield an elderly woman. What does the media have to say? Bothsidesbothsidesbothsides, naturally. Watch how many media outlets will use extreme attacks orchestrated here and in school board meetings to try to craft a narrative to simultaneously convince people that the right wing is the majority opinion and demoralize moderate and left wing voters into checking out of politics. They hate this country and will do anything to help the GOP end it.

I will say a lot of 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 can be a slog, although they have their moments.

Emmerdale is a difficult show to recommend years for because it's difficult to find most of the '70s or '80s on Youtube - huge chunks are missing from public access, and some that are available are blocked on Youtube. I would recommend watching what you can find of the '70s and '80s, but I know many would say that is boring. So I will say to try to start with November 1989 and then see what you like - there are many strong patches up to the end of 1998. After that it becomes much more hit and miss, although 2004-2006 are also strong years, overall. From then on I'd say just pop in and out and try to find what you can - I know many would have sold a kidney for their beloved Kate Oates, or "Queen Kate" as they called her, of 2013-2015.. I liked a lot of 2008, even though many did not. Many others love 2009 and 2010. It's a crapshoot. I saw your other question - I didn't mean to ignore it. I think current Corrie is...fine? I don't really watch a great deal of any current soaps. I would say it's better than most of the last ten years.

This was when the show was lodged in Jason's colon. They had no real interest in Liz outside of Jason.

It was Guza, yes, and it was a disgusting scene, but in some ways it was what Guza had built up all along. Michele Val Jean wrote some beautiful material for Liz on her own terms, but any time Lucky got involved, it became all about him, similar to how Laura's rape revisit was so much about him and about Luke. The natural endpoint of that era of the pairing, and Guza's vision, was for Lucky to remind us, one last time, he could only truly love Liz in the forever moment of him finding her bleeding in the snow.

Talented actor that he is, I was never a big fan of JJ's Lucky, even at the best of times, so admittedly I am biased, but the scenes of him telling Liz that the high point of his feelings for her was when he found her bleeding from a rape just reinforced everything that ever put me off about that pairing, even back in the day.

I'd never seen this promo. It's a better approach to advertising the show than anything onscreen at this point. I especially love the shot of Gary with his dog - Gary was such a dour character I sometimes forget how good looking Ted was then.

This was also around the period Ellie returned. It was the returns of family that kept me tied to ATWT even when the writing was the absolute pits through much of 1994. When Valente got rid of that, or P&G did, whoever, the heart was cut out of the show. I will never forgive them, honestly.